Wire splicing pliers



Sept. 23, 1952 1. o. LIMPUS WIRE SPLICING PLIERS 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 FiledMay 29, 1950 INvEN 0 lsmac LIMPU Sept. 23, 1952 L UMPUS 2,611,397

WIRE SPLICING PLIERS Filed May 29, 1950 Y 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 y 4 so I6 28 1,4 8

"r TOR NEY.

Patented Sept. 23, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT WIRE SPLICING PLIERS Isaac0. Limpus, Shelbyville, Ind. Application May 29, 1950, Serial No.164,965

This invention relates to a tool commonlycalled pliers for splicingwires wherein the tool will grip a free end of one length of a wire andwrap it around a straight length of the other wire so as to form tightlyclosed coils of the wire in a manner which will resist unbending.

A primary object of the invention is to provide a tool which will gripthe straight length of wire in a manner which will permit the'tool to berevolved therearound without slipping off of it, and at the same timewill permit a ratchet movement of the tool to engage the free end of thewire being twisted by a consecutive number of teeth spaced arounda sideface of the tool so that the tool does not have to be completelyrevolved around the wire in order to effect the splicing operation. Thisis of a particular advantage in splicing the wires of afield fence wherethe wires are too closely spaced together to permit the tool to beturnedentirel'y around through a complete revolution about a singlewire.

A further primary object of the invention'is to provide a tool which isextremely simple in its operation and is yet light in weight, butextremely effective in accomplishing the result sought. These and manyother objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent tothose versed in the art in the following description of one particularform of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in

which,

Fig. l is a view in side elevation of a structure embodying theinvention, and with the section of a wall of a handle portion brokenaway;

Fig. 2 is a view in back edge elevation;

Fig. 3 is a view in the opposite edge elevation;

Fig. 4 is a detail in section on an enlarged scale on the line 4-4 inFig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a view in side elevation of a pivot tooth;

Fig. 6 is a view in back edge elevation of the tool as applied to wiresbeing spliced;

Fig. 7 is a view in section on the line l'l in Fig. 6; and

Fig. 8 is a view in section on the line 8--8 in Fig. 6.

One handle in of the pliers is formed. to have a gripping portion l ifrom which the handle extends into a widened portion I2 to extendrearwardly and have a lip I3 overturned substan tially at right anglestherefrom. Above the lip 53, the member IE! is formed to have an edge il inclined to the general slope of the handle 10 to continue upwardlyand then curve rearwardly by a portion l5 through substantially aforty-five '1 Claim. (Cl. 140-112) degree arc, from the rear edge ofwhich the jaw generally designated by the numeral 16 extends by an edgeportion 51 on upwardly into the outer rounded surface 13 which curvesback, around into the portion :2, .Fig. 1. In the'form herein shown, theentire member just described isin the nature of a flat'plate with theyexception of the overturned lip.|3... f

l A second handleportion.generally designated by the numeral! is formedout of two members 20 and 2|. These twomembersjil and 2| are rounded. tomeet along a back line 22. This rounding of the two members 20 and 2| isprovided through the lips 23 and 2,4 which are turned around from flatfaces of the members 26 and 21 to abut by their edges on this line 22.

Towardthe upper end of the member 20, the inturned lip 23 terminates toleave a flat upper portion 25 whichcontinues upwardly to terminate in asubstantially circular head 28. From the peripheral edge portions ofthe-headZG there-is turned outwardly therefrom a plurality of jaws 2T,hereinshown as five in number. Each jaw 2'! is'characterized by havingan upper arcuate sloping edge starting fromthe faceof the head 26 andcontinuing around into a terminal point 28 of the jaw, and from whichpoint 28, the jaw 21 is undercut tohave a substantially semi-circularface portion 29. This portion 29 continues until it merges into the faceof'the head26.

The other member 2| continues upwardly through a'flat portion 3!andfinallyinto a circular plate-like-head 32 which has the sameperipheral diameter in the present showing as that of the head 26.

Lower ends-0f the two. members ZB'and 2ljare permanently securedtogether by any suitable means, herein shown .as by a rivet 33extending.

which extendsthrough the -head 26, r evo luble through the 'jaw Is. toseat against th inner face of the plate 32. "From theendofj the shank 31there extends a square post3s-toiiitfthrough the plate 32 as a means forpreventing turning of the tooth 35 in respect to the jaw H5. The outerend of the post 38 is riveted over to form 3 a head 39, Fig. 4, so as tohold the tooth securely in a fixed position to extend from the face ofthe head 26 between two adjacent jaws 27, Fig. 1.

The member II is thus pivoted about the part 37 so that the jaw [6 maybe rocked in between the head 26 and the back plate 32 as indicated inFig. 1, where the jaw I6 is rocked to an outermost position, and as inFig. 7 where the jaw is rocked to its inward position.

Normally the member II is spaced from the member I9 in a yieldingmanner, such as by a spring which has one end fixed at 4| to the handle[0, and the other end 42 fixed to a turned in peg 43 from the lip 24.The spring 40 has a coiled section 44 between the ends 4| and 42, thisportion normally being positioned within the space between the parts 20and 2 I.

The head 26 has a slot 45 entering from an upper side between two jaws27 to extend inwardly to the center of the head 26 where the slotterminates in a rounded edge portion 46, part of which is carried backunder the edge 4? in the nature of an undercut 48. This lower endportion of the slot 45 is thus formed to serve as a bearing into which awire may be seated, and the jaw I6 rocked around theretoward to havecurved portion [5 close over the top side of the wire in order to retainthe wire 50 centrally positioned through the head 26, across the jaw l6,and through the plate 32. The plate 32 has a slot 5! formed therethroughto coincide in respect to its slope and width, and also its lower endportion with the portions thus described in relation to the slot 45. Inother words the head l6 rocks between the head 26 and the back plate 32to grip the wire 50 therebetween.

In using the tool, the wire 50 is to be considered as being the one tobe spliced with the wire 55. These two wires 50 and are twistedtogether, and then there is an end portion of the wire 55, designated bythe numeral 56 turned to substantially right angles to the wire 50. Thetool is then applied to the wire 50, to have it extend through the head26 and the plate 32, and to be gripped by the jaw l6 by pulling thehandle l0 toward the member l9, and also positioning the tool to havethe end 56 extend across one of the jaws 27 within the undercut portion29, Figs. 6 and 7. Then by holding the two members I0 and Is one towardthe other, the tool may be rocked around, clockwise in respect to Fig.7, to carry the end 56 in a wrapping action around the wire 50 to formthe various turns 57, Fig. 6. Instead of having to rock the tool througha complete circle around the wire 50, it may be reciprocated by pullingthe tool back counterclockwise to allow the tool head 26 and the plate32 to slide longitudinally of the wire 50 in order to permit the wireend 56 to be engaged against another jaw and then bent further byrocking the tool back clockwise again, and so on until the desirednumber of turns 57 have been produced. The other portion of the spliceis performed in the same mannerby engaging the end 58 of the wire 50 andcarrying it around the wire 55 to form the number of loops 59 desired.The tool of course is reversed in respect to the position shown in Fig.6, by having the jaws 2'! turned to the right instead of to the left inorder to engage that wire end 58.

Then the tool may be disengaged from either the wire 50 or the wire 55as the case may be simply by releasing the member [0 from the operatorsgrip to allow it to spread or rock away from the member l9 under theinfluence of the spring 40 so as to rock the jaw I6 back to thatposition shown in Fig. 1, whereupon the tool may be removed from thewires being spliced. In order to limit the travel of the member H fromthe member 19, there is the lip [3 provided to be in the path of theouter edge portion of th fiat plate part 3| of the member 2|. Asindicated in Fig. 1, the overturned lip 13 is thus limiting the outwardtravel of the handle l0.

While I have herein shown and described my invention in the oneparticular form, it is obvious that structural variations may beemployed without departing from the spirit of the invention, and Itherefore do not desire to be limited to that precise form beyond thelimitations which may be imposed by the following claim.

I claim:

A tool for splicing together overlapping end portions of a pair ofwires, comprising a pair of handles; a pair of fiat plates carried byone of said handles spaced apart in parallel opposing face relation;each of said plates having a slot entering from an edge to open by aninner end centrally of the plate into acircular hole through the plate,the slot width being less than the diameter of said hole, and one sideof the slot being tangential to a side of the hole; a shoulder at thejuncture of the other side of said slot with the margin of said hole;said slots and holes being in transverse alignment one with the other; athird plate carried by the other of said handles of a width to besubstantially slidably passed between said first plates; a pivot memberrockably interconnecting said handles to swing said third plate betweensaid first plates about said member; said third member having an edgeportion which will travel between said two plates to cover and uncoversaid slots; said edge portion having a concave, arcuate portion ofsubstantially the same radius of curvature as that of said holes andhaving its center of curvature on a circumferential travel line throughthe axis of the centers of said holes, the concave side of said arcuateportion being directed toward said axis upon travel of the third plateinto said slot covering position to reduce the efiective opening throughsaid holes; and a plurality of jaws extending laterally from an outerface of one of said first plates in spaced apart relation spaced arounda circumferential line centered upon said hole axis; one of said jawsbeing carried by said pivot member.

ISAAC O. LIMPUS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 755,542 Probasco Mar. 22, 1904815,755 Smith Mar. 20, 1906 940,823 Probasco Nov. 23, 1909 1,129,711Mumford Feb. 23, 1915 1,314,079 Heuberger Aug. 26, 1919 1,408,622 MalianMar. 7, 1922 1,633,401 Fisher June 21, 1927 1,651,210 Kersey Nov. 29,1927 1,754,023 Jones Apr, 8, 1930

